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Our understanding of science moves forward relentlessly: it feels that we are not far from unwrapping the nysteries of the spiritual dimension. For example, the seemingly impossible basis of communication which is quantum entanglement, illustrated by murmurations, appears to be beyond the limitations of the known laws of physics — could this be the route by which the disciplines of spiritual and scientific endeavour can converge? Meanwhile the established Churches seem locked in tradition as they struggle to present the message of love and servant leadership which Jesus brought. Background music: 'In the Temple Garden' by Aaron Kenny Image source: Geograph © Walter Baxter

Tumultuous is a word that doesn't really do 2022 justice. Most people were looking forward to a year of calm as the Covid pandemic faded, but instead got turmoil and the cost of living crisis. In the UK, we mixed the global unrest dealt by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the inflation spike, with our own dose of political instability. A year in which you get through three Prime Ministers and four Chancellors is no ordinary one and the mini-Budget chaos led to the UK's own little self-inflicted financial crisis. That was dealt with by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and new PM Rishi Sunak reversing all of Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss's giveaways and adding some tax hikes on top for good measure. So, where do we stand at the end of a year of double digit inflation, rapidly rising interest rates and a general sense of gloominess? Will next year be better? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert take a look back at the big financial events of 2022 and look forward to 2023 on this special year end podcast.

CEOs on the hot seat, stocks in the spotlight, and reckless predictions! Jason Moser and Matt Argersinger discuss industries and trends investors should be watching, why the CEOs of Amazon, Starbucks, and Twilio could be on the hot seat, two stocks poised for upside, keeping online streaming and BNPL businesses on a short leash, and not being worried about Blackstone, Home Depot, and Johnson & Johnson. Plus, 19 minutes in, Jason and Matt continue our 2023 preview with potential surprises for investors, why Live Nation and nCino could both be acquired, one trend and one stock that investors will have to be very patient with, reckless business predictions involving crypto, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett, and two stocks on their radar: Topgolf Callaway and Easterly Government Properties. Stocks discussed: ROKU, GOOGL, PARA, DIS, NFLX, AMZN, TWLO, SBUX, STAG, TTD, WBD, PYPL, SQ, BX, HD, JNJ, CRM, PLD, CRWD, STWD, LYV, NCNO, APPH, COIN, BRK.A, MODG, DEA. Host - Chris Hill; Guests - Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger

Outside the U.S. there are opportunities for investors in the new year. Bill Mann discusses countries producing raw materials (and video games), what needs to change in China to get him more interested in companies like Alibaba and JD.com, and why investors should be watching Canada and Norway. Stocks mentioned: JD, BABA, TCEHY. Host - Chris Hill; Guest - Bill Mann

The emotional rollercoaster of new relationships brings highs and lows - wouldn't it be good if we could hold on to the euphoria while avoiding the pitfalls and challenges? In this episode of The Hypnotist, Adam Cox works on ways to maintain that high energy and resourceful state - just the thing for a new year!

Steve Caplin looks back over the tech of 2022. There are escaped robot vacs, jumping robots, robot chefs, teeth-cleaning robots, robot fish, cockroaches, spiders & falcons as well as a dangerous chess-playing robot. They now know how to recreate dodos, clone pets, train goldfish to drive cars and use dead spiders to pick up microelectronics. It was a year with a lickable TV screen, Wordle, a collapse in NFTs, road surfaces made of nappies and the revelation that you should lie on your right side after taking painkillers.

James Cameron-Wilson looks back at the cinematic year, taking us through the top 10 films at the UK box office of 2022, with Top Gun Maverick ending up the biggest grosser with £83m. But a very different list is James's own list of his 10 favourite films, with the Netflix remake of All Quiet on the Western Front his personal #1. With Avatar 2 just out, he recaps on the most expensive movies of all time, with Way of Water only making it to #4.

Liz Truss and Kwazi Kwarteng could have done with the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report 'Where have all the workers gone?' to supplement our commentary on 26th September 'Workforce Capacity is the Missing Link'. It was, however, published a couple of working days before Christmas, and it prompted us to consider again what's happened to the more than half a million people who are not employed and not claiming benefits. So, supported with evidence from the excellent Oldie magazine, we offer a few thoughts on a wide variety of enterprising activity that these older folk could be doing — and we round off this episode with a further suggestion for entrepreneurial activity which the Government might support in due course. Background music: '64 Sundays' by Twin Musicom, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Following the tradition of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III presents his first Christmas broadcast at 3 pm on 25th December 2022. image source: Wikipedia

First we had the great resignation and now we may be seeing a new trend emerge 'unretirement'. Amid the turmoil of the pandemic, Britain's economy threw up the puzzle of a dramatic rise in economic inactivity - as about 565,000 people dropped out of the workforce to a position where they were neither working nor looking for work. These missing workers aren't claiming unemployment benefits but are somehow getting by under their own steam. The phenonomen is great enough that the ONS and Bank of England have looked into it and an inquiry by a House of Lords committee says that early retirement among those aged 50 to 64 may be the main driver of the trend. But there are also tentative signs of some of these people 'unretiring', so what is going on? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert delve into the issue. Why do people want to take early retirement, why may some now be returning to work — and what would tempt more back to boost productivity and the economy? Plus, the team look at the stock market winners and losers of 2022 — and why the FTSE 100 managed to keep its head while other major markets suffered. Also on the agenda are log burners: can they really be cheaper than your central heating or are they just a feature for the home? And finally, used car prices have continued to defy the usual way of things and rise again this year, is that now coming to an end and what were the models that rose the most in value over 2022?